Negation Test for Participles vs Adjectives

There is a cheat code to instantly tell the difference between a participle and a regular adjective

derived from a verb. Most people get confused because words like crying or scared look exactly

the same in a sentence, but the logic is actually simple. You just have to try the negation

test. Take the word in question and try to make it negative. If you can flip

it to mean the opposite action, like changing crying to not crying, it is definitely

a participle. But if the word describes a permanent trait like slippery or cowardly,

the negation won't work. Stop guessing and just try to make it negative.